Phase Transitions in Biology and Disease

In the past few years the concept of protein phase transitions has taken the field of cell biology and protein biochemistry by storm. The initial discoveries were met with great enthusiasm as they provide the rationale for the formation of membrane-less organelles, such as stress granules, processing bodies and RNP bodies, in biology and human disease. By studying the biophysics of the involved proteins, it was shown that this process could be modeled by liquid-liquid demixing, also making the connection of such liquid compartments to characteristic protein aggregations observed in numerous neurodegenerative diseases. Whereas this is perhaps one of the biggest breakthroughs in these fields in recent years, key questions remain to be addressed towards the goal of fully understanding their functional properties in the cell and targeting them in proteinopathies.

This meeting gathers leading figures from the phase transition and protein aggregation field, whose work has spearheaded the recent developments. Where have we come from? Where are we now? And moreover, which direction the field is heading? Come join us on this exciting meeting!